Pipa player in a Ming dynasty painting by Guo Xu, at the Beijing Palace Museum
"Pipa xing" (Chinese: 琵琶行), variously translated as "Song of the Pipa" or "Ballad of the Lute", is a Tang dynasty poem composed in 816 by the Chinese poet Bai Juyi,[1] one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.[2][3] The poem contains a description of a pipa performance during a chance encounter with a performer near the Yangtze River.[4]